River
Kwilu River
965 km from source to mouth · DR Congo and Angola.
DR Congo and AngolaFlows into Kasai River9th longest in DR Congo
In numbers
Length
965km
Average flow
1,200m³/s
Basin
94,663km²
Drop
837m
from 1,131 m to 294 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
965 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,131 m
- 190 kmCuilo26,577 people
- 604 kmKikwit509,367 people
- 640 kmKwenge Rivertributary
- 683 kmBulungu81,393 people
- 965 kmKasai Riverat 294 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River
At the mouth it carries 1,229 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.0 seconds. It drops from 1,131 m to 294 m, 0.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 94,663 km², about the size of HU. 2.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to January; lowest: from June to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KikwitLargest city on its banks · 509,367 people
- Kikwit Airport (KKW)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 3 km from the city
- On the water14 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to AugustThe best months to visit
Kwilu River, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to August.
From about 390 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,000 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Kwilu River: the basin in numbers
94,663 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 27/km²people per km²
- 794maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,602mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 22.9°Caverage air temperature
What covers the basin
- 72% Forest
- 5% Cropland
- 15% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Kwilu River: what you find on the way
- 13Ferry piers
- 1MarinasPort Lwani
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Kwilu River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Kasai River
Republic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/sTributaries (3)
Also: Kwenge River, Inzia, Nko
In the same basin
Angola4,700 km41,800 m³/sUbangi River
Central African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/sKwango RiverDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/sUeleDR Congo1,210 km1,500 m³/sLomami RiverDR Congo1,280 km3,000 m³/sSanghaRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/sEbola RiverDR Congo250 km320 m³/sMbomou RiverCentral African Republic800 km1,300 m³/sLuvua RiverDR Congo350 km600 m³/sSankuru RiverDR Congo1,200 km1,500 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
DR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/s1 km awayLukenie RiverDR Congo1,014 km1,700 m³/s111 km awaySanghaRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/s243 km awayUbangi RiverCentral African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/s319 km awaySankuru RiverDR Congo1,200 km1,500 m³/s354 km awayTshuapa RiverDR Congo1,300 km3,600 m³/s396 km awayLulonga RiverDR Congo180 km1,800 m³/s459 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1059228) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
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